Rick Hvizdak A Pittsburgh-area real estate magnate has built the course of his dreams

A tip-off that you have been bitten by the golf bug: You decideto build a course and spend $11.5 million doing so, hauling in100,000 tons of personally selected rock, for character. Yourclubhouse resembles a medieval castle--a castle with a cabinetthat will showcase medieval swords--and even the maintenancebuildings have battlements and turrets.

Yes, Rick Hvizdak (pronounced VIZ-dack) was badly bitten, and thething of it is, he never saw the bug coming. He grew up on a farmin Hillsville, Pa., and was introduced to the game only fiveyears ago. Now 41 and a multimillionaire--he's the head of aPittsburgh-based real estate information company that he foundedin 1990--Hvizdak is about to cut the ribbon on his own course,which will be open to the public.

Olde Stonewall, a 6,934-yard, par-70 track in North Sewickley,about 40 minutes northwest of downtown Pittsburgh, should be acontender for best new course of 1999 when it opens this spring.Designed by Michael Hurzdan and Dana Fry, it begins on lightlywooded, rolling terrain, runs adjacent to the sereneConnoquenessing Creek, then heads up into the hills. There areravines, waterfalls, a cart path over a suspension bridge andbreathtaking views. Skip the par-4 16th hole if you have vertigo.The tee shot there has to carry a ravine, then plummets 150 feetto the landing area. Players must cross another ravine to reachthe green. The 14th and 15th holes are back-to-back par-3s of 197and 217 yards.

There are blocks of limestone, some as big as 28 tons, everywhereon the course. At first the stone was used to support cuts madeon steep hillsides, but Hvizdak liked the look so much he keptthe rock coming--after he had spent a few Sundays prospecting innearby quarries. An immense stone wall, perched on a hillsideoverlooking the 18th fairway and visible for miles, is thecourse's signature feature. "There's Olde Stonewall in yourface," Hvizdak says. "When you're walking up 18, I want it tolook like those rocks are going to come down at you." Green feesfor Olde Stonewall will be in the $85-$105 range.

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Hvizdak, a 24 handicapper, got hooked on the game after his firstdozen rounds, in 1993. Mike Forgas, now Hvizdak's managingdirector, took him to the Pete Dye Golf Club in Clarksburg, W.Va.Hvizdak and his wife, Michele, loved the place and promptlyjoined, but the club was more than 125 miles from their house. "Ilooked around Pittsburgh and didn't see the golf club I wanted tobelong to," Hvizdak says. "Plus, I didn't like some of theirrules and, I hate to say it, their snobbiness. Pete Dye is anexperience, and I felt that with the right property, investmentand will to make it happen, it could be recreated here."

The end result is Olde Stonewall, a little pricey given itsremote location but probably a better bet to succeed than Hvizdakonce was. Only a D student in high school ("I like to say I wasin the upper two thirds of my class," he says with a laugh),Hvizdak skipped college and eventually went to work for hisbrother's real estate company. After seven years, his brotherfired him. "Remember the game show Family Feud?" Hvizdak says."That's what we were like."

Hvizdak looked at the $1 billion spent annually for real estateinformation--title searches, credit checks, loan applications,taxes, judgments and other legwork that banks are either loath orunable to do themselves--and saw an opportunity. He startedNational Real Estate Information Services, developed softwarethat made collecting such data more efficient and scored big. Hisgrowing company merged with his brother's, and Hvizdak tookcontrol. The firm now has more than 250 employees, and Hvizdakhas licensed his name and software to businesses around thecountry. "The key is to focus on your niche," Hvizdak says."Theirs is banking. Mine is searching."

One search is over. Hvizdak's next trick will be finding the timeto play. He estimates he didn't get in more than 15 rounds lastyear. "I'd like to play more in '99," he says, "but with all ofour projects, I don't know if that's in the cards." His lastround of '98 was his best, an 87 at Olde Stonewall. "If I didn'twork," he says, "I'd play golf every day."